


Marionette

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, telepathic trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 05:59:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13711335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: Someone managed to kidnapped Neal.





	Marionette

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kanarek13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanarek13/gifts).



> This fills the ‘telepathic trauma’ square on my H/C Bingo square and was inspired by Kanarek13´s art called Marionette (you can find it here: http://kanarek13.livejournal.com/214121.html)

‘Run Peter, I can´t stop him, I…’ Neal points a gun straight at Peter.

‘You don´t want to shoot me Neal.’

‘I can´t stop him, he…’ Neal´s face contracts in pain.

Peter feels the bullet before he hears the shot. There is this terrible burning sensation and then the world seems to narrow to a tunnel and all he can see is Neal standing in front of him with a gun aimed at him. Neal´s face is contorted in agony. The world seems to have stopped until finally his knees give and he hits the concrete floor. He is not completely out, but the force of the bullet is still of a magnitude that he wished he could just pass out. He can see Neal just standing there, his face now completely stripped of emotions. He turns and starts running. Agents follow him, but he jumps in an unmarked van that speeds away.

 

‘Peter?’

Diana kneels next to him, patting him down, probably to check for injuries.

‘Good, you were wearing your vest.’

Peter doesn´t trust his voice, so he nods.

Paramedics enter the garage and Diana calls them over. In a whirl of activities, Peter manages to call out to Diana to check on Neal. The paramedic tells him that he is fine, but will have impressive bruising, but he needs to be checked out in the hospital. He is ready to protest when he sees Diana´s face. They are right, he should be checked out, his chest hurts like hell. If he doesn´t, El will have his skin.

‘What happened?’ Diana asks while they wheel Peter to the waiting ambulance.

Peter looks at the agents that come walking back and Jones shakes his head. Neal must have gotten away. He sighs, letting his head fall back against the pillow. They lost Neal a second time.

‘Peter?’

Peter turns towards Diana and groans when a wave of pain shoot through him.

‘Yeah?’

‘What happened?’

‘Neal… he… he shot me, I… I entered the building as planned and suddenly there he was, pointing a gun at me,’ Peter pants.

‘Take deep breaths Peter, I know it hurts, but you need to take deep breaths. Neal shot you?’

‘Yeah, but it wasn´t Neal. He… I can´t explain, there was no recognition, no emotions, nothing. Damn, we just found him and…’’

‘We will find him again Peter, we will.’

 

* *  *

 

‘FBI! MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!’

A cacophony of sounds and light flashes burst into the basement.

‘CLEAR!’

‘CLEAR!’

‘We found the subject!’

Peter holds his breath, he is listening in the van to the SWAT team that entered the building. He opens the doors of the van but is pulled back. He turns ready to yell, when he sees Diana looking worried.

‘You are not cleared for field duty Peter, wait here, let me check first and if everything if clear, I will let you know.’

‘But…’

‘No Peter, sorry.’

Peter nods, Diana is right.

She runs towards the building with her gun drawn and then she is inside.

Peter waits and it seems to last forever until he gets the clear from Diana, who also requests paramedics.

Peter runs inside and knows where he needs to be, since Diana is waiting outside of the room. He stops and takes a breath.

‘How is he?’

‘He is alive, but unconscious, as far as we can see he is not injured.’

Peter walks in and as Diana explained, Neal is laying on his side against a filthy, damp wall. He is pale, but looks unhurt. What stocks Peter´s breath is the writing on the wall.

  * __Call Peter, convince him to come__


  * _Pick up the gun_


  * _Load the gun_


  * _Aim, shoot to kill_



 

Words like _Reward, enemy, punishment_ are scribbled all over the wall.

Even worse, he recognizes the handwriting. It´s Neal´s. Neal wrote this on the wall. But what punishment was waiting for him, who threatened Neal into doing this. He wants to ask Diana where the paramedics are, when he notices that there is nobody with him in the basement. Where are the SWAT agents? Was there another threat? Peter feels for his gun to protect Neal and himself in case there is still someone on the loose. But his hand grabs in empty air. He looks down at his holster but it is empty. When he looks down at Neal, he sees Neal holding the gun, with the same empty look in his eyes as before.

‘Neal?’

‘I can´t resist him, Peter, I can´t… He…’

‘Neal, listen to me, you are safe. We…’

Peter can hear the gun cock and stares frozen into the barrel. He wants to say something to Neal, but for some reason, his voice isn´t cooperating. He jerks when the gun fires.

 

* *  *

 

There is no gradual waking, Peter jerks awake, panting and groaning when pain shoots through him. He can hear the shocked exclamation of people around him.

‘Agent Burke, you are in the ER. We are taking care of you, you are going to be fine.’

‘What happened?’ He asks, or think he asks, because the nurse repeats what she thinks he is asking.

‘You were shot, fortunately you were wearing your vest. The bullet managed to penetrate the vest but the vest took must of the impact. Nothing vital is hit but you will need some stitches to close the wound and we would like to monitor you.’

‘Where’s Neal?’

‘There was an agent accompanying you. He is filling in paperwork. Do you want me to call him in?’

‘Yes please.’

The nurse leaves for a moment and Peter closes his eyes. It is probably Diana or Jones, but he needs to know what happened to Neal.

‘Peter! How are you feeling?’

Peter’s heart rate increases. Neal is here, did he come to finish the job? Peter opens his eyes. ‘Neal? Who let you in? Do Diana and Jones know you are here?’

Neal looks a bit startled by the interrogatory tone of Peter´s voice.

‘Yes, I know you want to see Elizabeth, I wanted to call her, but Jones told me he would pick her up, so she didn´t need to drive. So you are stuck with me for the time being.’

Peter can see that Neal is a little pale but OK.

‘Were you already discharged? What happened?’

‘Discharged? I wasn´t hurt. We went to see that antique dealer. I should have seen that he was nervous, but…’’ Neal gives Peter a funny look.

‘Wait. We went to see an antique dealer?’

‘You don´t remember? We went into the gallery, you showed the warrant and the guy pulls a gun and shoots.’

‘Where were you?’

‘Behind you, you jumped in front of me. I… You scared me Peter, I thought you were dead.’

Peter wants to say something but a doctor enters the ER box, introducing himself and starting to examine him.

‘We are still waiting on the imaging to make sure the bullet is completely out and no pieces are left. If that is the case, I will close the wound. There will be some impressive bruising and I suggest not doing anything strenuous for at least two weeks, but then you will be as good as new. Is the pain OK?’

‘Yeah, it is fine.’

‘OK then, I will be back once I get the imaging. Try to relax and rest. How is the pain?’

‘It is OK. Thank you.’

Peter waits until the doctor is out of hearing distance.

‘Are you alright?’ Peter is a bit worried about Neal, who is quiet and subdued.

‘Yeah, of course, I am not the one that got shot.’

Peter nods, he will have this discussion another time, whatever they gave him is starting to wear off and he grimaces.

‘Should I call for a nurse?’ Neal gets up and comes closer.

‘Yeah, that would be a good idea.’ Peter grits through his teeth.

The nurse enters with Neal and checks his pain level, before injecting something that makes the world fuzzy and warm. He is not completely out, but closes his eyes, enjoying the feeling. He can feel Neal close by. Whatever he thought happened, it clearly didn´t and he is glad Neal is OK. While he can feel a heaviness settle over him, he knows he will also be OK. His family will take care of him.


End file.
